Antipathy
by Madison Dyann
Summary: Verena Calrissian had her orders, just as Poe had his. The plan was simple: get on board a First Order Star Destroyer and steal some information. The presence of Kylo Ren didn't change that plan but it did complicate things. [slight Poe/OC/Kylo]
1. Chapter 1

It was General Organa who insisted that Verena Calrissian leave the Resistance. She had nearly worked herself to death, Leia said. Verena had never agreed with that assessment. Sure, she had taken to working through meals and not sleeping regularly but she wasn't doing anything uncommon among her fellow resistance fighters. No, it was Verena's mother who had demanded, much less suggested, that Leia put her on leave. The older Calrissian woman had the talent for always getting what we wanted. And so the General sent Verena to work as an aide for a friend in the Senate. It was only supposed to last six months, but it quickly turned into two years.

The entire time Verena ached to return to her former position as a programming specialist for the Resistance. Life with the Senate had its moments of intensity, particularly when a contentious vote was pending, but the usual mundane pace never sat well with Verena. Her old job of staring at a computer screen was nowhere near as exciting as being a fighter pilot but it was the environment of the Resistance base she missed most and she wanted to return. But Leia had suggested something else, and Verena was certain her mother would hate the General if she ever found out.

The plan was to get captured. Get on the inside of a First Order Star Destroyer, find a computer terminal and hack into the files. It sounded simple but such internal espionage had never been attempted before. Planting a spy within the First Order in a more traditional manner would take several years. But a spy as a prisoner was much more time efficient. And time is of the essence in a war. Verena could be that spy. She had the name recognition not to be killed right away and she was trained in computer intelligence. Given enough time and incentive, she could bypass any code and lock. The hard part would be slipping from whatever cell they put her in and getting to a computer terminal unnoticed. And then there was the whole escape part. But Leia Organa was convinced Verena could succeed. And the Resistance was desperate for information regarding their elusive enemy.

There were rumors that the First Order were building something. Reports of increased mining on ore plants and the recruitment of engineers and labor contracts were enough to raise some red flags. Reconnaissance flights were too risky for the lack of information they provided. But a spy undetected on the inside could provide more significant information. The risk was greater, but so was the reward. Verena had agreed to bear that risk. Still, there were precautions to be taken, and Verena voluntarily demoted herself in the Resistance to keep important knowledge out of her hands. It was necessary for Verena to be kept at arm's length from the Resistance, so she wouldn't have any vital secrets to spill when was she was interrogated. So Verena stayed with the Senate, waiting for further orders.

Those orders still hadn't arrived when Poe Dameron asked her to join him on his trek out to the Western Reaches. But Verena had accepted nonetheless. The pilot had become her only connection to the Resistance during her time on Hosnian Prime. Still, his invitation surprised her, as she wasn't supposed to engage in or even know about actual Resistance missions. That didn't stop her from saying yes when Poe asked her come along. It was a mission from General Organa and Poe needed backup, just in case he said when Verena explained she wasn't good with a blaster, but she was the most convenient option since they both were on Hosnian Prime at the time. And Verena had not ventured out of the Core Worlds in two years, not even to visit her home planet of Bespin.

It wasn't until they had landed on Jakku that Poe informed her of the exact details of his mission. Even then, Verena hadn't expected things to go sideways. Her mission was to get capture, Verena just hadn't expected it to happen here on the desert planet of Jakku with Poe Dameron. Still, the plan was there, she reminded herself as another regiment of stormtroopers departed the shuttle that had appeared at the edge of the village. As backup, she wasn't much help, having never received any actual weapon training.

Poe had even grabbed her hand as they darted away from Lor San Tekka's hut but somehow they still managed to get separated in the firefight that ensued. Weapon forgotten in hand, she had to double back and circle around the cluster of huts before she was able to safely reach her X-Wing. Poe was standing next to his, blaster in hand with a finger on the trigger. He had waited for her. Verena gave her partner a stiff nod to signal that she was okay before she started to climb into the cockpit. Then the back engine exploded, sending Verena falling to the hard sand below and chucks of metal flying through the air.

Without even looking, Verena knew the X-Wing was no longer flyable. Poe's had taken similar damage, forcing him to climb out of the cockpit and pull his orange and white droid out of the ruined ship. They were stuck. More red beams of blaster fire flew in their direction, causing them both to hide behind the short wall made out of packed sand. "Got any ideas?" Poe asked, as he prepared his blaster.

Ignoring the odd pain that had appeared in her side, Verena glanced over the wall, looking into the once quiet village, whose inhabitants were now being herded together into the center of the clearing. Fire from burning homes lit up the night air. "I got one," Verena whispered before turning to her fellow pilot. "But it doesn't involve you."

He gave her a quick look before pulling the map out of his pocket. The map to Luke Skywalker. Stowing it safely inside BB-8, Poe said a few words to the droid, Verena couldn't hear over the sound of another approaching ship. It wasn't another trooper transport. No, this ship was black with large folding wings that reminded Verena of a bird. A bird of prey, maybe.

Poe's voice pulled her eyes away from the ship as it landed. "Are you sure about this?" He asked. BB-8 had disappeared with the map.

Verena nodded. "We all have our jobs to do, Poe." She knew what he thought of her job, that it was a death wish. In a way, perhaps it was. "You should go with your droid. Get the map back to the General. Complete your mission."

He shook his head causing his dark curls to bounce slightly. "I'm not leaving you."

Verena was about to argue when a figure caught her attention. He was clad in all black and beneath his hood, Verena could make out the shape of a mask as it reflected in the firelight as he marched off the winged shuttle, flanked by more stormtroopers. She had never seen Kylo Ren but she knew this was the First Order's mysterious Force-user. Sinking further into the sand beneath her, Verena cursed under her breath. This complicated everything, but Verena wouldn't allow it to change anything.

"Poe, please." She grabbed him roughly by the jacket, forcing him to look away from the Jedi Killer and to her. His brown eyes were a shade lighter than hers and were often filled with a warm glow that put Verena at ease. But now that glow was gone, replaced by a sharp seriousness that flickered in the dim orange light of the fires burning around them. His eyes were calculating, absorbing the images in front of them and analysing it all. It was second nature by now. He wasn't just Poe, the friend who occasionally sought her out, pulling her away from her duties with the Senate for the day. Now, on this desert planet in the middle of nowhere surrounded by First Order troops, he was Commander Poe Dameron. Her superior.

Verena had never commanded anyone. She wasn't even a soldier. During her time with the Resistance, she programmed computers, fixed droids, oversaw communication channels. With the Senate, Verena attended committee meetings, took notes and filed reports. She was privileged enough to have never had to defend herself or those she cared about. She didn't even know how to properly use a blaster, for godssake. But Leia had given her a mission. Verena could have easily stayed on Hosnian Prime and finished her paperwork. She could have refused any part in the General's plan, and Leia wouldn't have thought any less of her for it. But she had trusted Verena with it. And Verena had accepted the challenge. She yanked Poe closer to her. "We both have our orders, Poe. Get outta he-" Before she could finish telling him off for his stubbornness, something in the village won the battle for their attention.

When Kylo Ren struck down Lor San Tekka with his fiery red lightsaber, Poe reacted before her. He jumped over the sand wall, firing a single shot at the tall hooded figure. The blue beam never reached its target. With an outstretched hand, Ren stopped the beam mid-journey and it hung there as a pair of stormtroopers made their way over to Poe, who had also been frozen in place. Verena peered over the edge of the wall far enough that she was seen.

Tossing her unused blaster to the side, Verena threw her hands up as the stormtrooper approached her. Together, Poe and her were pulled forward until they were standing directly in front of Kylo Ren. Verena kept her head down, preferring to stare at the sand than the strange mask. "Search them." His voice was distorted, altered by his mask. Rough hands swept over her clothes, in and out of pockets quickly and not finding anything but specks of sand. The same occurred to Poe before they were forced to their knees. Pain erupted in her side as her body bent and Verena knew her injuries were more than superficial, but there was no time to worry about it now.

Ren lowered himself as well, but remained silent as he stared at the pair before him. "Do I talk first or do you talk first?" Poe said bravely, looking Kylo Ren directly in the mask. He quickly turned to her, "Do you wanna talk first?"

Under different circumstances and in better company, Verena would have laughed at Poe's attempt at a joke. But all she could manage was a quiet sigh as Kylo Ren's attention was shifted to her. His gaze was heavy and Verena tried not to think about the eyes that were behind the mask and whether or not they recognized her. An odd feeling appeared in the back of her mind. It was soft and gone just as quickly as it had appeared but she knew it was him. She expected him to say something to her, but instead he turned back to Poe.

"The old man gave you the map." He said after a moment. It wasn't a question. "Put them on-board. Separately." Without another word, the pair were pulled to their feet and marched forward towards the transport ships. Verena closed her eyes as Ren instructed the stormtroopers to open fire on the remaining villagers. You have a plan, she thought to herself as rough hands escorted her up a ramp. Stay alive and stick to the plan. All the while, she wished Poe had listened to her and followed his droid.


	2. Chapter 2

She was dropped roughly on the floor of a small cell, the door locking behind the stormtrooper as he exited. Verena leaned back against the bench, not having the energy to lift herself from the floor quite yet, and stared at the opposite wall. At first glance, her only injuries were a bloody knee, visible through the tear in her trousers, and the cuts on her face from where bits of her exploding X-Wing had nicked her. But Verena could feel the piece of shrapnel that had stuck her side. It was still there, keeping the blood at bay. Each time she moved, it twisted further into her muscle. She wanted to pull it out, but she also knew she would bleed to death without immediate medical care.

Poe had been forced onto a trooper transport while she was placed on the winged shuffle. They had shared a look before being pulled out of each other's view but they didn't dare speak. She couldn't help but worry it had been the last time she would ever see her friend. She felt the ship take off, leaving the desert planet and recent slaughter behind. With a deep breath, Verena attempted to calm herself. When she heard the sound of heavy boots outside her cell door, she closed her eyes, trying to drown out the universe.

But she heard the door open and footsteps enter nonetheless. Still she didn't open her eyes, simply pretending to not have heard him enter. After a moment, a heavy boot collided with her shin causing her to throw her eyes open and cry out in pain. She looked up to see Kylo Ren staring down at her from the open doorway.

"Stand." The distorted voice demanded. She thought of shaking her head no, telling him that she was good down there. But she thought better of it.

Verena moved her feet under her body and put a bloody hand on the bench to push herself up. It was then that Kylo Ren noticed the source of her hardship. Verena leaned lazily against the wall for support as she felt the shuttle begin to slow in speed, preparing to land. The trip was short, indicting that there was a large ship, most likely a Star Destroyer, waiting for them. Even at her full height, Ren towered over her.

"You're bleeding." The man pointed out. Verena remained silent as Ren looked her over. Hair disheveled, covered in sand, blood and sweat. Usually, Verena kept her thick curly hair pinned up in a tight bun at the base of her neck, but the firefight and being captured had caused the bun to fall out leaving her unruly hair to cascade down to her shoulders. She knew she didn't look her best. She was only twenty-five, but in the moment she felt much older.

He reached out a gloved hand, examining her wound. She was too tired to flinch away. "Are you aware that you have a piece of twisted metal lodged in your side?"

Verena huffed a reply, refusing to look directly at the man in front of her. "I may have noticed." The ship shook slightly, signaling that it had landed.

With a hand still on her wound, Ren turned to the trooper behind him. "Transfer her to the medical unit."

She knocked his hand away. "I don't need your help." Defiantly, stupidly with a quick jerk, Verena pulled the metal from her body and let it clatter to the floor. She heard Ren let out a startled sound, muffled by his mask, as blood began to flow freely down her side, soaking much of her shirt. She became light headed and her legs weak. Verena collapsed but never hit the floor. She was vaguely aware of being carried and it took her a moment to realized whose arms she was in, a groan escaping her lips. She looked up at him, not having a very good angle as she took in the underside of his mask.

Deprived of adequate blood flow in her brain, Verena decided to speak her mind. "That mask is childish." Kylo didn't respond and Verena wasn't certain if she had actually spoke the words. He had barely exited the ship before she lost consciousness.

* * *

It was too bright and the surface below her too hard. And judging by the harsh aseptic smell that assaulted her nose, Verena knew she was in the medical bay before she even opened her eyes. Staring at the white lights above her, Verena lifted a hand to where her wound was. The twisted metal and the deep gash it had created in her abdomen were gone, replaced by a layer of warm synthflesh. Once her body had healed itself, the gel would flake off, leaving behind scarless tissue. Like the wound was never there. Her eyes adjusted to the light, allowing her to admire the austere steel ceiling above her. She didn't have to feel her face to know those cuts had been healed as well.

"Why are you here, Verena?" It was his voice, not the voice produced by that metallic helmet. It was him. He was sitting next to her, but Verena didn't looking in that direction, instead keeping her eyes on the ceiling. The medical staff, probably a droid, had removed her blood strained shirt and replaced it with a standard First Order issued thick black shirt.

"Because you carried me here." Her voice was rough from lack of use and dehydration.

"Why were you on Jakku?" His voice was more stern, anger leaking into it.

Verena closed her eyes, getting a headache. She knew she should be afraid, and she was. But she was never one to cower, especially not to him. "Looking for Luke Skywalker." She looked over at him then. His was mask was removed, allowing Verena to see the face of her childhood friend for the first time since she was teenager. His black hair was longer and his face more severe, but he almost looked the same. That unnerved her. She looked back to the ceiling before speaking again. "But you already knew that." His silence was confirmation. "Where's Poe?" She tried to hide the concern in her voice, but she was sure Ren noticed.

"The Resistance pilot?" He rose to his feet, arms behind his back, looking down at Verena where she still laid on the table. "He escaped. Leaving you behind." His tone was almost mocking. Verena forced herself to suppress the wave of relief at the news.

From his higher position, Ren's face entered her field of vision, but Verena kept her focus on the ceiling. She did her best to keep her voice and breathing even. "If you're going to kill me, just get over with it."

Kylo tilted his head, "I think you're more valuable alive, Calrissian. For now." Verena finally made eye contact with the man, his eyes a shade darker than hers. In their youth, Verena had found warmth in those eyes but now, she only saw hate and darkness. "Tell me the location of the Resistance's base."

Verena wanted to sink into the table she laid atop. "I'm not apart of the Resistance, so I don't know anything."

"Don't lie, Verena. You've never been particularly good at it."

With a rush of anger, Verena swung her heavy legs around to the edge of the exam table and put her feet to the floor. Standing brought her closer to Kylo Ren, closer than she wanted but she refused to flinch before him. "I don't know anything," she said quietly, but loud enough for him to hear.

She had not expected him to wrap a hand around her slender neck but it wasn't really a surprise. Kylo pushed her back, nearly bending her backwards over the exam table. Verena bit a lip to keep from crying out at the pain of the table's edge colliding with her lower spine. "You know there are ways for me to get the truth from you," he applied a bit of pressure to her throat. Not enough to cut off airflow but enough to hurt. "Ways that are not pleasant."

"Go ahead. Because there's nothing to take." He didn't wait any longer before using the Force to pry into her mind.

* * *

Of all the things Kylo Ren expected to find on Jakku, Verena Calrissian was not one of them. He had almost forgotten her and what he did remember wasn't much. He remembered she liked to run through the high grasses of Chandrila with no shoes on, something her mother often scolded her for. She had had a crush on him, this he knew. The kind of crush adolescents have on family friends who they rarely see. Kylo remembered that she would instantly become shy around him, never talking but always staring. Her father had teased her about it so much until one day, determined to prove him wrong, she sat by him and talked animatedly with him for nearly the entire afternoon. He probably would have been annoyed, having a child nearly seven years his junior trailing after him, but he been impressed by her determination to prove her father wrong, even though what Lando had said was true.

Kylo ignored his memories then, and instead focused on the ones he pulled from the depths of Verena's mind. He saw glimpse of her and the escaped Resistance pilot together. Poe, she had called him. Kylo recognized a few of the memories from the ones he took from the pilot during his interrogation. There was obvious friendship between the two. An odd feeling twisted in his stomach. Was it jealousy or betrayal, he did not know. And there were more pressing questions at hand than Verena's personal relationships.

He met little resistance as he searched her thoughts. Committee meetings, walks through the tall stone columned halls of the Senate, unplanned naps in her crowded office. To someone else, her work might have been interesting but to Kylo Ren it was tedious and inconsequential. It reminded him to much of Hux and his insistence on documenting everything. Another memory of the resistance pilot can up. The two of them walked through one of Hosnian Prime's public gardens, as a sun began to set on the horizon. They were holding hands.

"Those are private," she whispered but still she didn't fight to keep him out. He pressed on.

The scene charged. "They're saying you got reassigned." It was the pilot again. The two of them were outside on a large landing stripe, Resistance X-Wings were visible in the distance. "Feels more like I got fired." Verena answered with a frown, keeping her eyes to the purple sky. Kylo knew the planet. Pheryon. He also knew the Resistance had abandoned their base there years ago. He continued on. But there was nothing to be found. Pheryon was the last time she visited a Resistance base; all of her memories after were either on Hosnian Prime or Coruscant and the only Resistance personnel she ever talked to was Poe Dameron. Verena didn't know where the Resistance's current base was. She had been telling the truth.

Kylo removed himself from her mind and took a step back, resisting the urge to hit something. He watched Verena fall to her knees, cradling her head. There were ways to search someone's mind without causing discomfort, but Kylo had never cared enough to use them. The woman on the floor was covered in sweat and shaking. She hadn't fought against his invasion into her mind, hadn't even tried to push him away. Mentally or physically. Either she had a strong sense of self-preservation or she was weak and afraid. Neither matched up with what Kylo knew of her as a child. "The Verena I remember was stronger."

Her head snapped up to look him. Her round brown eyes met his. Her eyes were the most familiar aspect about her. Back then, they had been the curious eyes of a child. Now, they were the eyes of a woman who hated him. "People change." She responded finally. "And rarely for the better it seems."


End file.
